Meer over Alcohol-Free Beer
Which alcohol-free beer are you looking for?
- As little alcohol as possible: look at the percentage. Dutch 'alcoholvrij' beer has at most 0.1%. '0.0' is not a legal designation and has no limit of its own; in 2019 the chair of the Reclame Code Commissie described 0.0 beer as beer that 'in het geheel geen alcohol bevat' (contains no alcohol at all).
- Low-alcohol: in the Netherlands that means more than 0.1 up to and including 1.2% alcohol. A Dutch beer of 0.3 or 0.5% is therefore legally 'alcoholarm' (low-alcohol). For both names, the extract content of the original wort must be at least 4%.
- From abroad: beer that is lawfully on the market in another EU country may in principle keep its own designation. A German 'Alkoholfrei', for example, can contain more than 0.1% alcohol; according to a ruling of the Reclame Code Commissie, up to 0.5% is tolerated in practice in Germany.
- By style: how an IPA, blond or sour beer with alcohol should taste, you can read in the Beer School. Trappists make alcohol-free beer too: under the Trappist label, La Trappe brews Nillis and Epos (both 0%).
The Alcoholwet uses a different limit: only above 0.5% is a drink considered alcoholic.
What you'll find at Hoptimaal
Here you'll find Dutch brewers such as ROTT., Gebrouwen door Vrouwen, De Kromme Haring, Rock City and VAT'33, Belgian ones such as De Halve Maan and De Brabandere, and imports from LERVIG from Norway, Brewski from Sweden, To Øl from Denmark and Jever from Germany. If you want to taste a few side by side, take a look at the Discovery Box Low Alcohol. With every beer you see the current Untappd score.
Taste and freshness
Brewers keep the alcohol low by making the beer so that little alcohol forms, or by removing the alcohol after fermentation. Each route has its own flavour risks: heat can cost aroma, and biological methods often give a grainy, 'worty' off-taste and fewer fruity notes. So taste which one you like. Hoppy beer loses aroma over time, so drink an alcohol-free IPA as fresh as possible, and from a glass: what you taste is largely smell.
Frequently asked questions
Is there really no alcohol at all in alcohol-free beer?
Not always. Dutch 'alcoholvrij' beer may contain up to 0.1% alcohol, and beer sold as alcohol-free in another EU country sometimes contains more. If you want to be sure, check the stated alcohol percentage.
Why does 'alcoholvrij' sometimes appear on beer with more than 0.1%?
Because it can come from another EU country. Through mutual recognition, such a beer may in principle keep its own designation. In 2019 the chair of the Reclame Code Commissie assumed that a German 'Alkoholfrei' beer with, according to the brewer, more than 0.1 but less than 0.5% alcohol could be called that here, as long as the consumer is clearly told that it contains alcohol.
Is the alcohol boiled out?
Not by simply boiling. In vacuum distillation the pressure is lowered, so the alcohol evaporates from about 34 °C; modern installations capture the aroma compounds and add them back. It can also be done with membranes, or the beer is brewed so that hardly any alcohol forms, for example with yeasts that don't ferment maltose. More in the Beer School on alcohol-free beer.
Order before 3 pm on weekdays and we ship the same day. Shipping within the Netherlands is free from €75.
